Ritter walks thin line on Roan drilling plan

Gargi Chakrabarty

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Gov. Bill Ritter will advocate "maximum economic benefit and minimum environmental impact" in the federal gas drilling plan for the Roan Plateau in comments to be announced today.

"The Roan is a special place, and we need to do all we can to protect it while mining the resource underneath," Ritter told a group of hunters, anglers, energy executives and local officials late Wednesday during a meeting in the Colorado Division of Wildlife headquarters.

"But we have to understand that this state has a resource, especially a resource that is considered clean-burning energy."

Colorado has to play a role in the drilling of natural gas, Ritter said, given that the fuel is important for U.S. energy security. He said he will disclose his recommendations today to the Bureau of Land Management, which developed the Roan plan.

The Interior Department granted Ritter 120 days this autumn to review the plan.

The Roan - 115 square miles of federal land within the ecologically diverse plateau region north of Interstate 70 and sandwiched by the small towns of Rifle and Parachute - has emerged as a battleground between industry and conservation groups.

Industry would like to extract its rich gas deposits, about 4 percent of the nation's entire reserves. The BLM plan allows restrictive drilling, disturbing only 1 percent of the land at a time.

Conservationists say drilling atop the plateau, which would brings miles of roads, pipelines and dozens of trucks, would spoil the pristine landscape.

Some environmental activists say the gas can be extracted from adjacent locations using a directional drilling technique, although industry says the cost would be exorbitant and the technique is not mature.

chakrabartyg@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2976